The year is 1916; the newly conceived strategic bombers, far removed from the days of a beach on Kittyhawk a decade before, are flying into enemy territory attacking supply lines, troop reserves, and production facilities within reach. Penetrating further and further away from their home base thanks to their larger size and larger fuel reserves, the bombers are easy prey to the most advanced aircraft of the day: the fighter. All nations are struggling to figure out how to get the faster, more agile, less stable, and more critically, less-fueled fighters all the way to and from the critically dangerous mission targets to keep these slow behemoths from being slaughtered at the hands of their respective enemies. Enter His Majesty’s finest, always known to improve upon a design, to just slap their fighter on top of their heavy aircraft and conceivably carry it to the conflict. Thus the “parasite fighter” concept is born. This is not a story of wit and ingenuity ruling the day; because after thousands of hours spent refining the design over 42 years the parasite fighter’s finest day was the Project Tom-Tom RF-84 mounted in the fuselage of a modified B-36 intercontinental bomber before the parasite fighters concept died an inglorious death, surpassed by mid-air refueling and naval aircraft carrier capabilities.

Somewhere in that progression however a glimmer of hope was born in the McDonnell proposal for the US Air Force’s request to fit a B-36 with it’s own self-defense fighter. McDonnell proposed the tiny egg-shaped fighter we now as the XF-85 “Goblin” complete with a folding wing design for concealment inside the massive Peacekeeper, still in development itself. The idea was simple. Cram everything necessary into a cockpit on top of a Westinghouse XJ-34 jet engine, and give it ample flight surfaces to perform the necessary air combat maneuvering wherever the B-36 may be when she gets into trouble. On August 23, 1948 not even one year after gaining their independence from the United States Army, a USAF EB-29 fitted with a trapeze system and the XF-85 with McDonnell test pilot Edward Schoch took off to test the Goblin’s flight characteristics and trapeze system. The aircraft separated and flew quite well according to Schoch, until it came time to rejoin the mother ship...then things did not go so well. Shcoch hit wake turbulence and was unable to effectively latch back on his first two attempts. On the third attempt, Schoch applied too much power, and slammed the canopy into the trapeze system shattering the canopy. The aircraft was skillfully guided to an uneventful belly landing, as the Goblin was never designed to be on the ground without a transport dolly. After many successful fligths, the design was retired, and that was the end of the Goblin, set-aside for the RF-84 Tip-Tow and Tom-Tom programs which would then fail themselves due to aerial refueling.

Enter Wargaming 70 years later, and we now have a fully functioning pint-sized deviled egg complete with four Browning AN/M3 .50 caliber (half inch) machine guns and enough piss and vinegar to gnaw the ankles off any opponent that dares loiter in front of it for an extended period of time!

In a shocking turn Wargaming decided to make the XF-85 Goblin a tier 9 premium, the first of its kind outright sold for money; although it’s been hinted that there will also be or was also to be a mission set to receive the aircraft in much the same way as the Do 335 Pfeil or Curtiss XF-15C. The missions did not come to fruition as far as any of us can tell, but boy I tell you what...whip out the credit card, debit card, or gift card and purchase this bad boy while it’s available! She’s unique not only in her tier, but also in her sheer size and performance in game.

For starters, here’s her stats compared to the other tier 9 fighters, heavy fighters, and multirole fighters.

Spoiler

Spoiler

As you can see she’s on par with, or better, than her contemporaries.

The good:

She’ll turn with most everything with her 72 maneuverability rating giving her a 10 second turn and a roll rate that’d make Sean Tucker and his Oracle Challenger jealous.

She climbs like a homesick angel with her 174 m/s climb rate and feels very at home even in the yellow band on the altimeter.

She’s quick...even without being the quickest, and only having the standard 6 second boost, she will get you into and out of a bad jam in a hillbilly heartbeat; especially if with the engine tuning modification and skills.

The meh:

Her guns are...well, it’s the world’s okayest firepower at tier 9. Those AN/M3s, while faster firing than their ‘Ma Deuce’ counterparts, are not quite quick enough to knock down larger aircraft or planes that turn quickly. Use your mobility and speed as necessary to combat most aircraft because the guns are just...fine; but not just fine. They’re workable. The guns are workable, let’s put it that way.

The ugly:

Do not, I repeat, do NOT engage anything head on or spend a prolonged period in AAA or spend a lot of time behind large caliber tail gunners. The plane has a miniscule health pool available so make sure you’re in and out as quick as possible or maneuvering to maintain your hitpoints. I took improved covering for the 16 additional HP and because if you lose any part of your aircraft, you’re gonna have a bad day mmmkay?

There’s a small bit of contention between myself and another player on this one, but she doesn’t seem to have much carry potential. For all my efforts recording footage for the video, there were 8 losses before I finally netted a win. Even with her speed and climb performance as good as they are, the lack of hitpoints means if you find yourself in a red swarm, you’ll be looking at a respawn timer again and again.

Overall:

8 out of 10 absolute must buy. Aside from the unique nature of the XF-85, she’s a tier 9 crew trainer that absolutely prints credits. On my most mediocre games (3800 points I’m not proud) I was still making well over 100k credits. She’s tremendously fun and you can’t help but see those little egg shaped kiddie toys when you fly it. Buy it for the history, buy it for the credits, buy it because you like the camo...whatever you do, just buy it!

Still not going to whip out da card unfortunately. But it sure looks like a nice tier 9 premium though.

Edit: haha, thx for the addition. Sorry didn't mean to ruin your footage. Just happened to be in the same battle while testing out my Fw 252. Enjoyed the video. Looking forward to more reviews if you're going to make more

No. No more $ for this company after years of false promises and incompetent decisions. I don’t need a tier 9 grinder/credit maker, having spent the past four years unlocking all the lines and using the Anniversaries to build up more credits than I can use, 5 day premium rewards I appreciated, and 2x/3x pilot experience in anticipation of using them in clan related competitions.

But you suckers have at it. Let’s see how many of you are here in 6-12 months or two-four years.

No. No more $ for this company after years of false promises and incompetent decisions. I don’t need a tier 9 grinder/credit maker, having spent the past four years unlocking all the lines and using the Anniversaries to build up more credits than I can use, 5 day premium rewards I appreciated, and 2x/3x pilot experience in anticipation of using them in clan related competitions.

But you suckers have at it. Let’s see how many of you are here in 6-12 months or two-four years.

Still not going to whip out da card unfortunately. But it sure looks like a nice tier 9 premium though.

Edit: haha, thx for the addition. Sorry didn't mean to ruin your footage. Just happened to be in the same battle while testing out my Fw 252. Enjoyed the video. Looking forward to more reviews if you're going to make more

Thanks!

You should though

I couldn't not include that clip, especially since you showed how fragile the little egg plane is

Bubba_Zanetti, on 26 April 2018 - 06:41 AM, said:

But you suckers have at it. Let’s see how many of you are here in 6-12 months or two-four years.

I mean, I've been here since the alpha, even though I don't have the tags for it. Since the beta for tanks/warships too...but again no tags. I take breaks, but I always come back.

The question is, why are you still here and actively involved in the community if you hate it so much?

Beornotns, on 26 April 2018 - 03:09 AM, said:

I picked it up, and I am SO glad I did!

What a blast to fly!

~Beorn

I'm glad you picked it up too! Unless you're one of the red gobblers I've run across that ruined my day the last couple nights

I mean, I've been here since the alpha, even though I don't have the tags for it. Since the beta for tanks/warships too...but again no tags. I take breaks, but I always come back.

The question is, why are you still here and actively involved in the community if you hate it so much?

Nope...been on this forum for 4 years or so, don't recognize your name although I recognize you've been posting a lot past couple weeks.

l'm here because I gave them money in all three of their properties, and I believe they should hear my displeasure. Also here for Forum game 2 point oh. But even that's becoming a faint shadow of it's former glory as stupid on stupid becomes the norm.

But, thanks for coming back and I look forward to your posts for the next 4 years! Welcome to the Forum game 2.0 gang!

Nope...been on this forum for 4 years or so, don't recognize your name although I recognize you've been posting a lot past couple weeks.

l'm here because I gave them money in all three of their properties, and I believe they should hear my displeasure. Also here for Forum game 2 point oh. But even that's becoming a faint shadow of it's former glory as stupid on stupid becomes the norm.

But, thanks for coming back and I look forward to your posts for the next 4 years! Welcome to the Forum game 2.0 gang!

As a general rule, I avoid forums/reddit/social media pages because it's generally the Mos Eisely of the game. "Screw the devs!" "Burn the noobs!" "Why does everything need to be so easy mode for the casuals?!?11" etc.

I'm here at the request of a very good friend, and I just happened to like enough of you to stick around.

Except sheeple. He seems a bit of an [edited].

Also, I didn't know what you meant with the Koolaid but I think I figured it out, you wanted to know which flavor we enjoyed the most. The misspelling confused me

And let's not get into what we've spent on their games. You and I probably have the same investment to 'right to b****' ratio I'd imagine.

I couldn't not include that clip, especially since you showed how fragile the little egg plane is

Ha yea Tier 10 firepower does quite a number on tier 9s especially this particular premium. I was just as surprised as you are when I saw that shot. I'll wait for another big update that may convince me to invest on this game again.

Ha yea Tier 10 firepower does quite a number on tier 9s especially this particular premium. I was just as surprised as you are when I saw that shot. I'll wait for another big update that may convince me to invest on this game again.

It's the age old Catch 22, right? Investment drives development, but development drives investment. I'm willing to bet on the future of the game for now. They truly do appear to be trying to make it the game it should have been and only our content creation+faith in their desire to keep the game developing will get the new players we need to increase the investment+development.

No. No more $ for this company after years of false promises and incompetent decisions. I don’t need a tier 9 grinder/credit maker, having spent the past four years unlocking all the lines and using the Anniversaries to build up more credits than I can use, 5 day premium rewards I appreciated, and 2x/3x pilot experience in anticipation of using them in clan related competitions.

But you suckers have at it. Let’s see how many of you are here in 6-12 months or two-four years.

I'll take your Pepsi Challenge on investment in WG properties... There aren't many premium tanks or ships that I don't already own. I came late to Warplanes, I admit it, and I started at 2.0 not because of the "come see the new stuff" mindset, but because of a new hard drive to allow me to have all three games in my ancient computer in HD [and even then I uninstalled ArcheAge, Star Wars: The Old Republic, World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, etc...]. I also have the Missouri and the Musashi in Warships, and I almost have the T-55A unlocked in Tanks; I've also "legitimately" ground out a line or two in my day.

I appreciate all that you have done for the Warplanes Community and Game. I am happy that a senior statesman like yourself is here to help us fledgling pilots with some viewpoints we might not otherwise have, and I applaud you giving your honest opinion. However, I would amend the above to ask is YOUR favorite Kool-Aid flavour "sour grapes"? Because I am not reading a whole lot of solutions or evaluations; just anger and disappointment.

~Beorn [a life-long gamer from "Chainmail" table-top in the 70s to playing each of the "World of..." titles just this morning before work]

I am a newb scrub who started after 2.0. I know... I am truly sorry. But this is looking fun!

Senior statesman is a bit generous. I played far too much in the alpha and beta, until they developed the game to a point that my computer literally could not boot the game up. I do not regret it. Then I had a brief spurt in life where I was able to unlock tier 4 in a few different lines (I prefer 'bubble-up' grinding instead of single-line focused) before again, life got in the way. I recently had a stint as a Community Contributor for another game that will not be named, before that ended sourly and TragicLoss was like "Help me grind some xp in WoWP for WoT" and it stuck. So, here I am. Happy and mostly able to answer any questions most might have. The true 'old-hands' are guys like Mars_Revenant, Quesnel, etc that have been here for the majority of the game straight through. Those are the guys you can really sort the pre and post-2.0 info through. I just bring historical knowledge (and first-hand experience) to the World of Warplanes! All that said, I really appreciate the confidence in me and the game. I hope to catch you in the skies!

Also, FWIW I had to delete World of Warcraft and a few others to make space for HD "World of..." titles from WG so I understand and appreciate your dedication.

Because I am not reading a whole lot of solutions or evaluations; just anger and disappointment.

Your deductions are correct.

Not sure what your sentence about senior statesman that Lambo805 has replied to is about...didn’t realize a committed player who at least put the time and effort to actively play the red headed stepchild was expected to train you fledgling newcomers...I learned everything on my own, 3 tier spread, 3 man flights, meta change after meta change.

Christ, I have more beta battles than most current 2.0 players have 2.0 live.

I appreciate all that you have done for the Warplanes Community and Game. I am happy that a senior statesman like yourself is here to help us fledgling pilots with some viewpoints we might not otherwise have, and I applaud you giving your honest opinion. However, I would amend the above to ask is YOUR favorite Kool-Aid flavour "sour grapes"? Because I am not reading a whole lot of solutions or evaluations; just anger and disappointment.

Solutions & evaluations by players like Bubba have been offered for 4+ years & when all WG ever offered back was pipe dreams & broken promises don't be surprised when you see some jaded responses by the guys that were actually here playing the game the whole time. Sooner or later you just reach your tipping point.

We get it you new guys are excited with 2.0 & don't mind the endless bugs, broken missions, disconnects, game crashes & crappy frame rates thinking that WG is working hard on solutions & that it will all be fixed SOON™. The facts are the same development patterns of 1.xx are being repeated in 2.0 & is obvious to the people that have been here & done that. So enjoy the game while you can & don't get offended when someone isn't as happy as you are, chances are you will be in the same boat one day.

Not sure what your sentence about senior statesman that Lambo805 has replied to is about...didn’t realize a committed player who at least put the time and effort to actively play the red headed stepchild was expected to train you fledgling newcomers...I learned everything on my own, 3 tier spread, 3 man flights, meta change after meta change.

Christ, I have more beta battles than most current 2.0 players have 2.0 live.

I do my best to assist new players in games I am more familiar with; Circle of Life, Simba and all that. Also helps the game's toxicity levels [so I have been told {though I can be mighty salty}] when folks who don't grok are told, "oh, in version 1.xx WoWP did X and Y and Z; you'll get used to it." YOUR experience helps US, whether you wanted to or not; osmosis is a thing... ;)

Perco_lator, on 26 April 2018 - 12:06 PM, said:

Solutions & evaluations by players like Bubba have been offered for 4+ years & when all WG ever offered back was pipe dreams & broken promises don't be surprised when you see some jaded responses by the guys that were actually here playing the game the whole time. Sooner or later you just reach your tipping point.

We get it you new guys are excited with 2.0 & don't mind the endless bugs, broken missions, disconnects, game crashes & crappy frame rates thinking that WG is working hard on solutions & that it will all be fixed SOON™. The facts are the same development patterns of 1.xx are being repeated in 2.0 & is obvious to the people that have been here & done that. So enjoy the game while you can & don't get offended when someone isn't as happy as you are, chances are you will be in the same boat one day.

Not saying we aren't in the same boat NOW, just a different platform [which tank line is broken at the moment, Russian bias, why aren't Aircraft Carriers more user friendly, why does arty continue to foment such diametrical opposition, etc.].

I DO intend to enjoy the game. I intend to enjoy ALL of them. They are my games of choice at the moment, and I figure I will have fun, until I don't.

~Beorn

I am a newb scrub who started after 2.0. I know... I am truly sorry. But this is looking fun!